Free Outdoor Film Series Saves Me Some Bones

Posted on Jul 21, 2010.

With all the free activities going on in Balboa Park this summer, including free concerts, cultural fairs, and access to acres of parkland and gardens to frolic in, I can safely bury all the bones I earn writing this blog and save them for a rainy day.

That’s partly because for the 10th consecutive year, the San Diego Museum of Art is presenting the dog-friendliest free film fest this side of Cannes. If you aren’t familiar with SDMA’s Screen on the Green film series, imagine picnicking on a grassy lawn in a picturesque park setting under the stars with dozens of your friends and neighbors, while classic films are projected on a giant screen.

As with previous summers, each film highlights works currently on display in the museum’s galleries. For instance, this Friday, August 23, Jason and the Argonauts (1963) will bring to life the epic Greek adventures depicted on vases and sculptures in the exhibition Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece. Then on August 6, the colorful Chinese film, The King of Masks (1996) provides the cultural context for many of the paintings, costumes, and decorative objects in SDMA’s Asian galleries.

Concluding the series on August 20, the original, Oscar-winning version of Moulin Rouge (1952) presents the life and times of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec whose posters, paintings, and drawings of the belle époque are featured in the blockbuster exhibition Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris.